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Gwaenelle Mael
This is a revolution, not a dinner party. Blood must be spilt in the name of freedom. - Said stoically during an argument with Camilla Evander on how the campaign should be run. The Empire believes that power is derived from the ability to kill. Let us show that power can also come from the ability to show mercy. - Her guiding philosophy in war. My mother is Freedom and my beloved is Democracy. - When asked about the identity of her mother and on her relationship status. War and revolution must not prevent us from making puns. - Another philosophy of her's. The military commander of the Movement for Democracy and Freedom, as well as one of their most vocal speakers and activists, Gwaenelle Mael has long been a strong supporter of freedom and the need for self-government. Early Life Gwaenelle Mael (Gwen to friends) was born in the prosperous province of Kalladan to a "lower upper middle class family" as she described it. Her father, Con, was a secondary school teacher. Her mother is unknown, but believed to have been a soldier in the Imperial Army who was killed during a scouting mission. As a child, Gwaenelle was a great reader who studied and discussed classical texts constantly. But more specifically, she was fascinated by nature and the way the world works, gaining something a talent for using logic and reason to figure out things about a person or place by either looking at them or studying them with her eyes. This made her many friends and even more enemies, as her observations were often bluntly stated. Her father wished for her to follow in his foot-steps as a teacher while she wished to become a detective. While the two loved one another, their relationship was a strained one at best. With his frequent work, Gwaenelle learned from an early age to take care of herself. However, their love of literature, history, and nature was something that drew them together. On vacations, they would travel to historical sites and Gwaenelle would accurately describe how an event occurred at that place. Gwaenelle stated that these years where the happiest in her life. The Felix Family and the Northern Trip All good things did not last and this happiest was swiftly brought to an end when Con was arrested and accused of heresy, treason, and sedition by the Imperial Court. They claimed that his studies came dangerously close to uncovering classified government information. While Gwaenelle attempted to make an appeal to Governor Calgar of Kalladan, it was no use. When Gwaenelle was 17 years old, she watched her father be burned at the stake. Not long after, Imperial troops raided their house looking for this sedition information, setting fire to it in the process. Gwaenelle was pulled from the house by Erika Felix, a family friend and Gwaenelle's godmother. Her husband, Adelbern, was a teacher at the same school as her father and had been his closest friend. Erika was a retired soldier and armchair historian. The kindly couple took in Gwaenelle and continued to support her education, convincing her to take up their last name to avoid suspicion from the censors. The execution of her father and the destruction of her house broke whatever good faith Gwaenelle had in the imperial system and she vowed to dedicating her life to ensuring that no one ever suffered her family's fate again. Meeting Camilla Evander and Starting a Revolution With support from her godparents, Gwaenelle traveled to Oresteria to attend the Imperial University, majoring in history and criminology (a degree considered useless by many due to the pseudo-legalization of murder for those of the upper classes and the intense corruption of the court systems). During this time, she met a kindly elf TA by the name of Camilla Evander. Like Gwaenelle, Camilla utterly despised the Empire and wanted to create something more fair and equal. There frequent discussions and meetings gradually turned into a full blown Imperial-wide secret society and conspiracy. Gwaenelle agreed to take up the position as the military commander of their new revolution and was charged with training their army. Upon graduating from university, she took up her new position with earnest. Gathering whatever people she could in secret in the mountains between Oresteria and Kalladan, she began to drill and organize her fellow revolutionaries. And then, in order to display her seriousness for her cause and to show that the Empire was not quite as strong as it claimed to be, Gwaenelle raided Fort Apondar, seizing it's large weapons cache and supplies. Through clever tactics, deception, and ruses, Gwaenelle and her 150 revolutionaries seized control of the fort without spilling any blood on either side. The soldiers at the fort, knowing they would be executed if it became known of their surrender, defected and joined her force. With this, the Revolution began. Gwaenelle's current location is unknown to all but the revolutionaries, as she and her band are currently focusing on raiding and training.